A Selective Soaking

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Hard to believe that a batch of rain is really heading into Southern New England tomorrow. I mean, we've been following individual storms all summer long - with their brief downpours and frequent misses. But now, a quick glance at the developing rain through the Mid-Atlantic will have your head spinning...if your lawn is brown and your gardens are almost dead.

The weather maps favor a track through Connecticut, Rhode Island and Southeast Mass. for the heaviest rain and possible storms. It sounds counterintutive to say in a drought, but a Flash Flood Watch is up from 5am-9pm for those locations tomorrow. Sadly, it's almost too much of a good thing. Heavy rain in a short period of time is mostly lost to runoff, not infiltration and percolation.

What's worse is the possibility that some of this rain will just brush the areas in severe drought, like the Merrimack/Nashoba Valleys and Southern NH and Maine. Here we might "just" get a few showers or a passing late day storm. We aren't looking a gift horse in the mouth, but we are rooting for a slight jog north with the main thrust of rain.

Either way, the weather system responsible for the rain will move away Friday night and keep the cooler air around for the weekend. Meantime, a slower-moving storm system may approach late Sunday and carry into Monday. Here too is another opportunity for some beneficial water.